Reward Manager (Benefits, Pensions and Recognition)

Job Title                     Reward Manager 

Function:                   People Experience 

Location:                   Nottingham/Hybrid

Contract type:           Permanent

Salary:                       £54,884 with the opportunity to rise to £64,570 within 3 years.

Closing Date:            20th January 2026

NHS Supply Chain currently has an opportunity for a Reward Manager to join our team during an exciting period of transformation, working to make it easier for the NHS to put patients first and to deliver against our strategic objectives.

Our Reward Framework supports our ambition to attract and develop the right skills, capabilities, and behaviours that we need as an organisation to realise our organisational vision and attract/retain the talent we need. The Reward Manager of this role will further shape the colleague offering in this space, whilst ensuring we maintain, embed and govern the existing framework – recognising the significant cost & importance of these reward elements to the organisation.

The Reward Manager will play a pivotal role in ensuring our Reward offering is competitive and equitable across the organisation, ensuring colleagues feel fairly rewarded for their role and contributions  

Every day you will …

You’ll sit at the heart of People team, in the performance and talent team. Working in collaboration with colleagues from across the people team as well as business leads, you’ll co-create solutions that build capability and high performance.  You will work with the Finance and Procurement teams to support the procurement, contracting and tracking of suppliers and their services.

• Develop and present proposals for enhancements to our benefits, pension and recognition offering, based on market insights and strategic requirements of the organisation. Provide thorough analysis, costings, options, interdependencies, recommendations, and implementation plans. 
• Own and project manage the cyclical recognition, flexible benefit and pensions enrolment/assurance processes end-to-end. From initial budget proposals, through to colleague tools & communications; and hand-offs for payroll implementation. Responsible for designing and implementing the full cycle, with resource support from the rest of the team.
• Regularly review external market practice, bringing new ideas and benchmarking to our internal practice. Expand best practice knowledge within the Directorate.
• Bring a depth of experience and specialism to the Reward Team on all aspects of Benefits, Pensions & Recognition – in order to advise senior stakeholders on the application, delivery and governance of these reward elements.
• Own, create and roll-out meaningful & engaging Reward communication campaigns for all annual reward activities and adhoc updates, partnering closely with the wider reward team and colleagues across the Directorate to ensure communications are effective, timely and joined up across wider People Team activities.
• Design, own and implement robust governance processes for all Reward activities, ensuring equity of application across the business and spend within agreed budget. Provide regular insights and analytics to key stakeholders to demonstrate governance and effectiveness of reward activity.
• Own the relationship with third party providers; ensuring colleagues receive a good standard of service and provider spend remains within budget. Own the provider re-contracting and budgeting process, staying close to market developments to inform future provider choices.
• Manage the day-to-day application and governance of key reward policies, recommending changes as required to the Head of Reward and People Executive Director

What can we offer you?

We want to reward you for your passion, enthusiasm, and hard work so we offer much more than a competitive salary: 

• Hybrid working opportunities, giving you the flexibility to work collaboratively in the office and remotely.  
• We recognise our employees’ hard work and contributions with annual bonus schemes, long service, and VIP colleagues awards. 
• 27 days holiday plus bank holidays, with the option to purchase an additional 5 days.
• We are dedicated to your development, through in-house training, support, and access to external qualifications to maximise your potential.
• A focus on your well-being offering 1 day of paid well-being leave and free access to the 24/7 Employee Assistance Programme
• Generous pension scheme (with us contributing 12% when you contribute 6%)
• Access to our Flexible Benefits Scheme, where you can choose from a variety of benefits such as Life Insurance, Critical Illness Cover, Income Protection, Health Cash Plan, Dental Insurance, and additional pension contributions that suit you.
• 2 days of paid volunteering leave allowing you to give back to your community. 
• Access to many discounts from the Blue Light Card to NHS Discounts. 

NHS Supply Chain, who are we?

Our role is to support the NHS to save lives and improve health. We are a part of the NHS family, and our role is to source, deliver and supply healthcare products, services and food for NHS trusts and healthcare organisations across England and Wales.

We serve every NHS Trust and operate a national network of distribution centres, managing relationships with more than a thousand suppliers and delivering more than 8,000,000 orders each year to more than 17,000 locations. Doing all of this on behalf of the NHS gives NHS staff more time to focus on their main priority of providing excellent patient care. 

What skills will help you thrive in this role? 

• Data & Analytical Thinking / Attention to Detail: Significant experience of managing complex data models and forecasts, tracking/managing/predicting complex scenarios and significant budget spend.
• Significant & proven experience in designing & delivering Benefit, Pension and Recognition programmes in complex, large-scale settings. Including rolling out/closing schemes.
• A strong awareness of best practice in the external market, and participation in external Reward networks and communities. A working knowledge of how to benchmark reward practices using large external data sets.
• Significant, hands-on knowledge & experience of managing different pension scheme types (Public, Private, DB, DC schemes) and their governance structures. Including specialist knowledge of pension scheme enrolments, employee transfers, start-ups and close downs. Expert knowledge of pension scheme legislation and regulatory landscape.
• Strong, up-to-date working knowledge of UK employment legislation that impacts Reward activities (e.g. Gender Pay legislation, minimum wage). 

Want to develop your career with the NHS Supply Chain? Then apply below or reach out for an informal discussion about the role in confidence by emailing us at Careers@supplychain.nhs.uk 

Our Inclusive Commitment

At NHS Supply Chain, we are committed to building an inclusive environment where difference is not only valued, but celebrated, giving everyone the opportunity to thrive in their career. Developing our people is key to our success, so if this role sounds like the right next step in your career but your experience doesn’t match perfectly with the job advert, we encourage you to still apply.

Struggling to complete our application form, and require additional support? Reach out to our Talent Acquisition team at careers@supplychain.nhs.uk who will be happy to help you with alternative ways to apply.

Apply Now